Backwards and forwards

Huw Williams | 18:34, Sunday 22 December 2013 | Turin, Italy

I have found this Christmas an interesting thing to observe. As the commercialism of the season - which we seem to have been complaining about for decades - reaches such an acute saturation point, the backlash seems to be growing. I've stumbled across countless articles arguing for a "Simple Christmas", or a "Minimal Christmas" - both approaches appealing for a rejection of the endless acquisition of stuff. And while I welcome this re-evaluation of the value of our mindless materialism, I don't find these articles so forthcoming in terms of what we might do with all the extra space, time and money we might have on our hands if we take up their way of thinking. 

And then there's a lot of nostalgia around, isn't there? Recipes for those tastes of Christmas yester-year, retro-toys, the ubiquitous screening of our favourite Christmas movies, even the dusting down of our Christmas music (yes I know, guilty as charged) is all in some ways about reminding ourselves of how good Christmas used to be. And yet people have been telling us how good the olden days were since, well, the olden days themselves.

I can't deny it, I certainly feel the pull of nostalgia at this time of year. And yet the older I get, with each passing Christmas I find myself more inclined to look forward, too. Even this week as I found myself preparing this morning's sermon on Isaiah 40, I found myself looking both backwards and forwards. It is no mistake that this passage forms part of the perennial readings for Christmas in many churches, and if we don't see it's fulfillment in the arrival of Jesus then we've clearly missed something absolutely central. And yet at the same time, I found this text directing my perspective forward too, to Christ's second advent.

But maybe that shouldn't come as a surprise. For centuries the church has seen the period of advent as an opportunity to recreate in some way the period of waiting for the Christ. And as they celebrated on Christmas morning the arrival of the child in Bethlehem, they were also well aware of the parallel in our own awaiting for his second advent. I'm no historian, but it seems to me that maybe the second advent is something we have lost focus on in recent years.

So here's my plan for my Simple Christmas - to look backwards to the gift of the child in the manger, and look forward to when the Lord Jesus will return in all his glory, to take His people home. And if the tinsel is looking a little tired, or the jingle bells are sounding a little dull, I really couldn't care less. The King is returning!

O come, O come, Immanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! rejoice! Immanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thous Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! rejoice! Immanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!